Populating cubes — Links & integrations

You can type values straight into a cube, but most real models are fed from somewhere else. A Link is a saved definition that populates a cube from a source: it remembers how the source's data maps onto the cube's coordinates, and you can re-run it whenever the source changes.

Source types

A Link draws from one of four kinds of source:

• A file (Data Table) — an Excel or CSV file you've uploaded becomes a Data Table (rows and columns), which a Link maps into a cube.
• Another cube — copy or combine values from one cube into another, mapping dimension to dimension.
• A URL — a spreadsheet hosted at a web address, fetched fresh on each run.
• An integration — a live connection to an external system (see below).

How the mapping works

When you create a Link (the Link editor walks you through it), you tell XCubes:

• which source columns map to which dimensions — so each row lands at the right coordinate (item codes are matched directly, or via a mapping you edit);
• which column holds the value to write into the cell;
• the transfer mode — replace (overwrite), add (sum into), or subtract.

Cube-to-cube links map dimension to dimension instead of column to dimension, and can pin unmapped dimensions to a fixed item. You can also add transform columns — computed columns (e.g. derive a Year-Month from a date) — before the data is mapped.

Running, refreshing, reverting

• Run a Link to transfer the data now; Preview shows what would change without writing.
• File-backed Links can auto-refresh — when the underlying Data Table changes, the Link re-runs automatically.
• Revert restores the cube to its state just before the last run.

Large sources stream in, so an integration can load far more rows than would fit in memory at once.

Integrations

XCubes ships connectors for these external systems:

You configure a connection once (credentials are stored encrypted), then point Links at it — choosing a table or writing your own query — to feed cubes from live data.

For bringing in cross-tab spreadsheets (a grid of dates × accounts), the grid/matrix importer maps the sheet's rows, columns, and value area onto a cube in one pass, and remembers the layout for next time.

See Cubes & coordinates for where the data lands, and Collaboration for controlling who may change it.